I like to do this a few times a season, it gives us an idea (as time goes on) about usage and performance in one quick glance. There are limitations, but Rob Vollman has been working on improvements and there are many more elements available this year. Gabriel Desjardins information is vital of course, as always. A mention that it’s early is in order, and with that said here we go. Any errors, shout please.

Quality of Competition vertical and Offensive Zone starts horizontal. Upper left, you’re in with snakes and they have knives and automatic weapons. Lower left, you face easier comp but start in the snake pit. Upper right, coach thinks you can score, but so does the other coach and he’s sending a fleet of Frans Neilson’s to get you. Lower right, you face your Grandma and her Yahtzee friends and do it on Easy street. If you can’t win there, you’re heading for Schittgablerstrasse of the German Prison League.

SHUT DOWN QUADRANT: This is crazy early, but we can see Boyd Gordon occupy the Horcoff zone and that’s what was expected of him. He has some company–and this is early–but it does match what we’ve seen of Eberle so far this year. Tough zone start, tough competition, blue balloon. What’s left? Joensuu looks good but has a bad back because Oilers.

TWO WAY QUADRANT: Again early, but we see how much Eakins is relying on Ryan Smyth. RK played Smyth with Mike Brown and Lennart Petrell last year, and the results were predictable. Smyth may fade as the season wears on, but I’m glad he’s been given the chance. Hall is Hall, if healthy (and at L) he’ll push the river, Hemsky and Perron (I’m including him here because it fits better, this is an early photo) are fine NHL players. Nuge is a phenom–I don’t know that he can carry a line yet, but he’s a beauty–and coach Eakins has been trying very hard to get Yakupov some help via zone starts. I think we should include Arcobello here too, he’s been up with the top 2lines mostly and fits better (like Perron).

SHELTERED: Eakins doesn’t really use his 4line much so they land here.

LESS SHELTERED: No one, really. Hamilton hasn’t played enough to talk about. If the Oilers had a better 4line, we might see this quadrant populated.

This is a crazy graph. Eakins gives Nick Schultz severe zone starts (which makes sense in one way: he’s an offensive catastrophe) but it also means you’ve got a guy who doesn’t handle the puck well being asked to make a nice outlet pass. That may be a reason we saw Grebeshkov slide in yesterday.

Smid-Petry are facing less difficult opps than Ference-J Schultz (remember, the coach doesn’t control the qual comp on the road, and may not care to at home) and that’s kind of counter with what I think makes sense. It may also explain the pairing shuffle we’ve seen of late, Eakins could be in the feeling out process.

BEHIND THE NET CORSI ON FORWARDS

Here’s the Desjardin Behind the Net numbers, we see just how badly the 4line is getting killed (Petrell scoffs at the Jones number) but there’s little doubt Oiler management is willing to tolerate it in an effort to reduce the Gagner injuries Hall injuries. I give a tremendous amount of credit to Eakins for getting the veterans to buy in, and Hemsky’s fine number reflects it. The kids are alright folks, they really are. Godspeed, Taylor Hall.

BEHIND THE NET CORSI ON DEFENSE

I still think Smid must be hurt, and the Belov is the stout. Here’s an item that should make you smile: Here’s last year’s blue.

My sincere thanks to both Mr. Desjardins and Mr. Vollman. Dallas Eakins has done some nice things in 8 games (this doesn’t include yesterday) and I think we’re going to see some sunshine as this season* wears on.

*Light a candle for Hall.

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The axes have been trimmed to the outlier values of the data sample. I suspect TOJ would like to see the axes at equivalent max/min values which would put the intersection of the axes into the center of the graph.

Most Vollman charts I have seen have at the absolute center of the chart the location where the shutdown, two way, less sheltered and sheltered squares all meet. The above charts have the center (ie where all 4 squares meet) to the left. Am sure there is a reason for it. Not sure what it is.

Andropod: The axes have been trimmed to the outlier values of the data sample. I suspect TOJ would like to see the axes at equivalent max/min values which would put the intersection of the axes into the center of the graph.

Ah, gotcha. When I run the Vollman using his toy, it gives me that range (easier to copy and paste). If you go to the linked site, I’m sure you can get that effect, but it would be too wide (I think) for me to publish.

Now that I look at it, the numbers are there. The players themselves move based on how they’re used/what they face, but if we populated it with more teams/players there wouldn’t be any change in where the Oilers sat (only our ability to see them)

In case anyone else didnt hear about it, Oil Change, season 4 is on now on SNW, I believe it is on again at 9 pm as well.

Some juicy tidbits on the draft and free agency….I still cant believe how involved 6 rings is…

LT, would love to see a post on this episode and see what else anyone picked up…especially stuff like the Philadelphia Flyers list leak that was in that video. Im sure we have some techie guys that may be able to zoom in on some of those whiteboards in MacT’s office!

Rocknrolla:
In case anyone else didnt hear about it, Oil Change, season 4 is on now on SNW, I believe it is on again at 9 pm as well.

Some juicy tidbits on the draft and free agency….I still cant believe how involved 6 rings is…

LT, would love to see a post on this episode and see what else anyone picked up…especially stuff like the Philadelphia Flyers list leak that was in that video.Im sure we have some techie guys that may be able to zoom in on some of those whiteboards in MacT’s office!

Rocknrolla:
In case anyone else didnt hear about it, Oil Change, season 4 is on now on SNW, I believe it is on again at 9 pm as well.

Some juicy tidbits on the draft and free agency….I still cant believe how involved 6 rings is…

LT, would love to see a post on this episode and see what else anyone picked up…especially stuff like the Philadelphia Flyers list leak that was in that video.Im sure we have some techie guys that may be able to zoom in on some of those whiteboards in MacT’s office!

What I really like about these charts compared to last year ( http://oilersnation.com/2013/9/4/hemmer-2 ) is that the zone start centre is now shifted well above 50%. I always thought it was weird who was “shutdown” for the top teams that had nobody below 50%.

Schittgablerstrasse runs just north of the Scherm Tyre and Projekt Logistik building in Munchen, Germany off of Wilhelm Reichard Strasse. Looks like a real light industrial park gem. I hope you aren’t thinking of taking the family there for a sightseeing vacation. Parsons road might make a nicer holiday.

That blueline chart is hilarious. So basically Eakins has everyone at the dining table for turkey dinner and Nick Schultz in the kitchen eating cold KD at the kiddie table.

Jettison Gazdic and Brown from this roster and replace them with actual NHLers and this team could get somewhere.

Something else interesting about Chase – he got 6 PIMs in one game in Sept, then another 6 in the first two games in October. Now, in the last 8 games, a total of 4 PIMs. He’s still being a dink on the ice and getting under the skin of the opposition, and his points haven’t trailed off at all, but he’s not costing his team by taking penalties. Another positive development.

Dead Cat Bounce:
Horcoff with his first goal and second point of the season.

Horcoff with an assist too now (and Nichushkin also with his first NHL point). Dallas still losing though – they’re almost in Oilers territory.

I’m feeling pretty good about the Horcoff to Dallas move. Gordon has been very impressive. I was worried we’d miss Horcoff, but Gordon has been better and cheaper. I’ll take Gordon, Joensuu, Belov and Larsen for Horcoff any day. MacT deserves credit for those moves in addition to the Perron trade.

And did you really just mention Horcoff like he was a loss for the team? That so called Corsi stat you just referred to… maybe you should check out where he ranks on Dallas. Same goes for your boys Seguin and Nichushkin.

Interesting that one foolish poster here was convinced that Nichushkin would explode this season due to pre-season performance.

We’ve uprooted the sod over the off season something like five times in seven years, sometimes replanting with a fresh scoop of more of the same, while each spring Samwise tucks in an extra silver mallorn nut; these now all clustered together, still seeking the sun.

Whether all this replanting has nourished the soil depends on whether all this barely sprouted sod was turned down and folded in, or carted off the local yard-waste depot. I’m especially wondering if our power play took a ride with the weeds in the latest round of resodding.

Bruce wrote yesterday about the fall-off in special teams, which complements the hammer. He also rightly points out that we haven’t played many of the stronger teams in the western conference yet.